By MARTIN SADONGDONG
Operatives of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) recaptured the alleged brains behind the infamous “rent-sangla” or car rental modus operandi which victimized hundreds of car owners in 2017, a police director announced Tuesday.
Rafaela Anunciacion, 57, of Pacita Complex, San Pedro, Laguna, was arrested by HPG’s Special Operations Division (SOD) on August 25 at the parking area of a mall in San Pedro City.
Armed with a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Arthur Melicor of Valenzuela Regional Trial Court Branch 284, the lawmen nabbed Anunciacion for swindling/estafa under Article 135 of the Revised Penal Code.
Anunciacion was first arrested on March 2, 2017 after being linked to the car rental modus, but she managed to post a P40,000-bail four days later for her estafa case.
Aside from Anunciacion, her alleged partner, Tychicus Nambio, and several others were also ordered arrested but they all managed to post bail.
“The problem is that the victims opted to file separate estafa charges against the suspects in 2017, instead of uniting and file a single syndicated estafa which is non-bailable,” Fajardo said.
For estafa to be upgraded to syndicated estafa, Fajardo bared that at least two victims should file a single complaint against the suspects.
“We are also looking at filing carnapping charges against [Anunciacion] because if the contract of the car already expired and the vehicle was not returned, it has to be treated as carnapping case. Unfortunately, it is for the court to decide,” Fajardo added.
In rent-sangla modus, the suspect would rent a car, usually a brand new one, between P25,000 to P45,000. The vehicle would then be pawned to other individuals from P200,000 to P400,000.
The operation centered in Calabarzon region (Region 4A), Central Luzon, and Metro Manila.
